The Sufi movement has spanned several continents and cultures over a millennium, at first expressed through Arabic, then through Persian, Turkish, and a dozen other languages.

Sufi orders, which are either Shi'a or Sunni in doctrine, trace their origins from the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, through his cousin Ali, or from Abu Bakr. Despite sufi tradition long being rooted in Muslim culture and tradition, there are some factions of Islam — especially Salafism and Wahhabism — that consider Sufism heretical.

The lexical root of Sufi is variously traced to ØµÙˆÙ á¹£Å«f "wool", referring either to the simple cloaks the early Muslim ascetics wore, or possibly to ØµÙØ§ á¹£afÄ "purity". The two were combined by al-Rudhabari who said, "The Sufi is the one who wears wool on top of purity."

Others suggest the origin of the word á¹£ufi is from Aá¹£hab aá¹£-á¹£uffa "Companions of the Porch", who were a group of impoverished Muslims during the time of Muhammad who spent much of their time on the veranda of the Prophet's mosque, devoted to prayer and eager to memorize each new increment of the Qur'Än as it was revealed. Yet another etymology, advanced by the 10th century Persian historian AbÅ« RayhÄn al-BÄ«rÅ«nÄ« is that the word is linked with Greek word sophia "wisdom".